INTERNAL SELF-CARE STRATEGIES: NEW WAYS TO EXPAND YOUR COMFORT ZONE// Do you know why you should expand your comfort zone? It’s actually a form of strategic self care. The best self care is internal self care. In this video, you’ll learn new ways to leave your zone of comfort, how to practice effective self care and even get some self care coaching. You’ll also find out why you might want to go from comfort zone to familiarity zone because your familiarity zone is a much better description of what’s actually going on. Watch this video to learn more.

You've heard that life begins at the end of your comfort zone, right? But, when's the last time you decided to actively expand your comfort zone? Hi, I'm Christina Marlett, creator of Courageous Self-Care and today I'm going to show you a three step process that will help you expand your comfort zone by the end of the day.

For the best advice on how to practice self care that goes beyond bubble baths, chocolate, and wine be sure to subscribe to this channel and hit the bell, so that you will be notified of when I post a new video every Thursday.

If you know things have gotten a little too comfortable in your life, by the end of this video you'll know a three step process that you can take action on right away. I'm also going to share with you why I consider expanding your comfort zone to be a really powerful form of internal self care. I've shared this info with so many of my private and group coaching clients, and the comment that I hear back most often is "Wow, I didn't really think of it that way before." As a coach, that is one of my favorite things to hear, because a new thought can literally change your life.

Be sure to stick around until the end of the video, because I've got a really fun quiz that I've created for you. Now let's get into these three steps.

Step number one: Reframe your comfort zone. I was at a talk once and the speaker said something that has stayed with me every since, and this was years and years ago. She said, "Our comfort zones are not actually all that comfortable, and so it's not really the best way to describe it. In fact our comfort zones can be quite uncomfortable. They can be really painful, and we can get adapted very easily to situations we know what to expect, but that doesn't mean that they're comfortable."

So her word, that I have used ever since, is actually a familiarity zone. What are you familiar with right now that is possibly no longer serving you? So this is step number one, shift your mind from thinking about your comfort zone as a comfort zone, into a familiarity zone.

Step number two: Decide what you're going to do to get out of the familiarity zone. What we want to do with this step is notice what is familiar that is no longer serving us. Where in our life has it become uncomfortable? And that's why it doesn't really serve us to think about it as the comfort zone. We want to look at what is uncomfortable, what's niggling at us, and decide on one thing that you are going to do that is stretching into the unfamiliar, the mystery, the unknown.

So what is that thing that you're going to change up today and do differently from how you've been showing up so far? For example, today I stretched my familiarity zone by asking for some money that someone owed to me. It wasn't comfortable to do that, but it's more uncomfortable to not have the money. I want that money, it's owed to me, I earned it. So that is an example of stretching that familiarity zone. Now it's your time. Decide on one way that you're going to practice showing up different from what is familiar to you.

So how are you going to expand your familiarity zone today? Please share in the comments. We would love to know. We're creating a community here, so don't be shy. Plus the benefit of writing something down, the chances dramatically increase that you're actually going to do it. So go ahead and share in the comments now how you're going to expand your familiarity zone today.

Step number three: Decide why you're going to expand your familiarity zone. There are so many reasons on why it is important to move into the unknown, to get into the mystery, to get into the unfamiliar. It's important for you to decide, once you've determined how you're going to expand your familiarity zone, why it's important for you. I'm going to give you three reasons though that will help persuade you to take action.

Reason number one is that it is so healthy for your brain to do things that are novel. People who have brain health well into their later years, one of the common things that is helping that is novelty, and going into the unfamiliar is exactly that. So, practice being outside of that familiarity zone for your brain health.

Reason number two is that when we expand into the unknown, and we come through the fear on the other side, we feel more fully alive. So if you've been feeling kind of blah lately, or like you're going in circles, or you're feeling blocked, it is so valuable to expand that familiarity zone. When we come through that fear that often accompanies this expansion, we feel amazing, we feel so proud of ourselves, and that is why I consider this comfort zone, familiarity zone expansion to be a form of courageous self care. We are caring for ourselves by going through that fear.

Reason number three is that it's fun. It doesn't have to be this big, heavy thing. It could light hearted. You could expand your familiarity zone in a fun and goofy way. I encourage you to do that, because we all want to be happier, and the way to do that is to create that happiness right now. So please do create an experience for yourself that's fun.

Now you know a new way of thinking about how to stretch that comfort zone, using the new terminology of the familiarity zone. You also know why I consider it to be a form of internal courageous self care.

Did you know that everyone has a self care style? I created a quiz to help you determine what your self care style actually is. If you feel like you haven't been taking such good care of yourself, definitely take the quiz. If you feel like, I think I'm pretty good with my self care, do take the quiz because it is not just a quiz. Every question reveals really powerful internal self care strategies. So you can find the link to that quiz in the description below, or you can go to selfcarequiz.com.

Also, if you'd like to join our community of courageous women who are learning to practice better and better self care, please become a member of the private community. It's called the Courageous Self-Care Community, it's a Facebook group. We would love to have you there. You'll find the link in the description below.

If you liked this video please give it a thumbs up, leave a comment, share it with your friends, and be sure to subscribe to the channel. Tune in next week, I'll be sharing in the video a surprising reason about why pursuing your passion and your purpose may be stressing you out. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Christina Marlett, creator of Courageous Self-Care, and your self care coach. I feel really grateful that you took time to practice this form of self care. Which is watching the video, getting informed, and now I invite you to take action. I look forward to connecting with you again next time. Bye-bye for now.

Oh I said goodbye before I meant to. What I wanted to do was to ask you if you saw last weeks video. It was about the best way to stop controlling everything. So it's showing up on the screen right now, magically. You can click on that link to watch the video. That's it, I'm going. Bye-bye.